Page "Microelectromechanical systems" Paragraph 42

Deep RIE ( DRIE ) is a special subclass of RIE that is growing in popularity.

In this process, etch depths of hundreds of micrometres are achieved with almost vertical sidewalls.

The primary technology is based on the so-called " Bosch process ", named after the German company Robert Bosch, which filed the original patent, where two different gas compositions alternate in the reactor.

Currently there are two variations of the DRIE.

The first variation consists of three distinct steps ( the Bosch Process as used in the Plasma-Therm tool ) while the second variation only consists of two steps ( ASE used in the STS tool ).